One of the things that metrics I talk with people about focusing upon is time to action. Being able to identify events is one thing but making systems take action is a whole other discipline. I just came across this video about a research project at Microsoft called Mayhem that attempts to take some of the complexity out of the action side of equation.

This is an open source effort, so it will be interesting to see where the market takes it. The makemayhem site is where to learn more.

Steve Simske is an HP Fellow and Director in the Printing and Content Delivery Lab in Hewlett-Packard Labs, and is the Director and Chief Technologist for the HP Labs Security Printing and Imaging program.